![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leahbobet(ETA: Followup post here.)
So, when I got in this afternoon I was shocked to discover that Harlan Ellison groped Connie Willis during the Hugo presentations on Saturday. On the same page in my friendslist, up comes Rachel Manija Brown's own account of her Harlan encounter this weekend.
And y'know, I'm tired of this inappropriate bullshit. Really, really tired. So this can only be resolved in one fashion:
Fatwa.
We will now address common objections to the Fatwa in our Fatwa on Asshats Questions section (FAQ):
But Leah, Connie Willis is reported to have said she can handle him and he's done worse? Why are we involved?
Because I sincerely doubt otherwise honest persons wake up one morning and say you know what? I would like to grope Connie Willis and then one other woman I don't know and then I will retire from my asshat ways and take up meditation in the mountains. Because there are already a few people I know who are referred to as "thinking they're Harlan Ellison" and you know what? If he gets away with it, they feel they can too. They think it's cute to be an asshat. I don't think it's cute to be an asshat.
Because things that are just plain wrong deserve to get called on the carpet.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
commodorified adds: "Because the fact that Connie Willis chose not to make a loud public scene in the middle of a Hugo ceremony and had the presence of mind to pass it off quietly does not mean she wasn't gravely insulted, and she doesn't deserve to be repaid for that with indifference?"
But Leah, why must we go to war? Why not just a little skirmish?
Fandom prides itself on conventions being "safe space" for all comers: it doesn't matter if you're gay, straight, poly, black, Asian, Middle Eastern, white, Wiccan, Pagan, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, hard of hearing, vision-impaired, mobility-impaired, a goth or dressed as an anime character or any of these things.
But apparently it matters if you have tits.
That is bullshit.
But Leah, it is not worth declaring Fatwa on Harlan Ellison. He is old and will die soon.
Old men will be old men is just another variation on boys will be boys, and they damn well will be boys until you tell them it's not appropriate. If the behaviour makes you uncomfortable, annoyed, angry, outraged -- if you think about it being applied to you and you are any of the above, it is worthwhile to state that it is inappropriate, illegal, and should not be swept under the rug.
But Leah, Harlan Ellison is just one man!
Yup. And the guy who, when I was twenty, told me at a convention that I could have a beer when my top came off was just one man. And the individual who gropeddivalea at Comicon was just one, too. And the guy who was making creepy leers at katallen in Boston two years back was just one too.
Y'know, eventually this shit adds up to a lot. Eventually it adds up to a systemic issue.
ETA:Okay, apparently you can't close polls anymore, and I don't want to make this entry private, so...
So:
[Poll #808886]
Vote early, vote often.
...and forward yourself to the tricky bit of the program.
ETA: Link roundup thus far. Gwenda Bond -- Catherine Morrison (and her part two) -- Gavin Grant -- Graham Sleight -- Edward Champion -- Alan DeNiro -- Elizabeth Bear -- Jim C. Hines -- Steve Nagy -- Lea Hernandez -- Meredith L. Patterson -- Kate (juliansinger) -- Lis Riba part one part two part three --
So, when I got in this afternoon I was shocked to discover that Harlan Ellison groped Connie Willis during the Hugo presentations on Saturday. On the same page in my friendslist, up comes Rachel Manija Brown's own account of her Harlan encounter this weekend.
And y'know, I'm tired of this inappropriate bullshit. Really, really tired. So this can only be resolved in one fashion:
Fatwa.
We will now address common objections to the Fatwa in our Fatwa on Asshats Questions section (FAQ):
But Leah, Connie Willis is reported to have said she can handle him and he's done worse? Why are we involved?
Because I sincerely doubt otherwise honest persons wake up one morning and say you know what? I would like to grope Connie Willis and then one other woman I don't know and then I will retire from my asshat ways and take up meditation in the mountains. Because there are already a few people I know who are referred to as "thinking they're Harlan Ellison" and you know what? If he gets away with it, they feel they can too. They think it's cute to be an asshat. I don't think it's cute to be an asshat.
Because things that are just plain wrong deserve to get called on the carpet.
commodorified adds: "Because the fact that Connie Willis chose not to make a loud public scene in the middle of a Hugo ceremony and had the presence of mind to pass it off quietly does not mean she wasn't gravely insulted, and she doesn't deserve to be repaid for that with indifference?"But Leah, why must we go to war? Why not just a little skirmish?
Fandom prides itself on conventions being "safe space" for all comers: it doesn't matter if you're gay, straight, poly, black, Asian, Middle Eastern, white, Wiccan, Pagan, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, hard of hearing, vision-impaired, mobility-impaired, a goth or dressed as an anime character or any of these things.
But apparently it matters if you have tits.
That is bullshit.
But Leah, it is not worth declaring Fatwa on Harlan Ellison. He is old and will die soon.
Old men will be old men is just another variation on boys will be boys, and they damn well will be boys until you tell them it's not appropriate. If the behaviour makes you uncomfortable, annoyed, angry, outraged -- if you think about it being applied to you and you are any of the above, it is worthwhile to state that it is inappropriate, illegal, and should not be swept under the rug.
But Leah, Harlan Ellison is just one man!
Yup. And the guy who, when I was twenty, told me at a convention that I could have a beer when my top came off was just one man. And the individual who groped
divalea at Comicon was just one, too. And the guy who was making creepy leers at katallen in Boston two years back was just one too.Y'know, eventually this shit adds up to a lot. Eventually it adds up to a systemic issue.
ETA:Okay, apparently you can't close polls anymore, and I don't want to make this entry private, so...
So:
[Poll #808886]
Vote early, vote often.
...and forward yourself to the tricky bit of the program.
ETA: Link roundup thus far. Gwenda Bond -- Catherine Morrison (and her part two) -- Gavin Grant -- Graham Sleight -- Edward Champion -- Alan DeNiro -- Elizabeth Bear -- Jim C. Hines -- Steve Nagy -- Lea Hernandez -- Meredith L. Patterson -- Kate (
juliansinger) -- Lis Riba part one part two part three --
(frozen) This has destroyed my desire to ever be nominated
Date: 2006-09-03 07:58 am (UTC)Harlan did something wrong. Majorly so. No quibblinig. But the thought of every female fan of the genre walking around with a chip on their shoulder, waiting for the male writers in the field to make a mistake so they can "fuck your shit up", well that is just a nightmare to me. We have enough problems with fanboys/girls doing weird shit, calling, stalking, thinking you created a character they like just for them, and all that sort of "Fatal Attraction" creepy stuff, and now this?
Oh No! Nuh-UH!
I will adopt a pen name and let someone else accept my award, should I ever get so lucky.
Enjoy your genre, fucked up as it now is.
(frozen) Re: This has destroyed my desire to ever be nominated
Date: 2006-09-03 05:06 pm (UTC)(frozen) Re: This has destroyed my desire to ever be nominated
Date: 2006-09-03 06:11 pm (UTC)Once someone views themselves as a "victim", the attitude develops in their pointy little head that "I'm a victim, I can get away with crass, rude behavior because I am a Genuine Victim and therefore not responsible for my own actions." THEN they start examining the behavior of anyone they identify as a "Pro" with a fine eye, and if it's unacceptable to them by THEIR "victim mentality" definition, they will raise a hue and cry, and what then? It's my career at stake. This is not some pointless debate over who get's to be king of the fannish hill, this is about people lives and careers.
I've already read one post by a femfan where she protested someone "ogling" an attractive femfan friend of hers. "Ogling" may not be cool, but who defines what is a glance, a look, a stare to identify someone or a leer? Where does this stop? I don't want to be the one that finds out. I would rather just avoid the whole mess and shitcan the idea of participating in your Brave New Paranoid World as anything but a spectator.
Read some of Harlan Ellison's stories about his childhood, and see the victim mentality, and then look at his behavior. Sheesh, two seconds of introspection on the part of any moderately intelligent human being will reveal the truth of what I wwrote above.
You fan's are playing with fire, and pretending it won't burn anyone.
Good luck. I shall myself stay well clear of any encounters as an identifiable "SF" writer with your paranoid little community. I'll perhaps come incognito to gawk at the mess this will shortly become. This may not be much of a loss in my case, but over time there will be a greater loss to your community as other more prominent writers come to similar conclusions on their own.. Perhaps you can fill the gaps with StarGate actor's and Game Designers. I would not enter an SF convention as an identifiable "pro" without a pair of Blackwater Security guards and a lawyer, not now.
As I said, enjoy your genre, and keep your fucking victim mentality away from me.
(frozen) Re: This has destroyed my desire to ever be nominated
Date: 2006-09-03 06:32 pm (UTC)It's easier than making up huge potshotty comments for people you don't even know: anonymously, no less. Or storming out of the discussion and running to your room twice.
Nighty night, Famous Anonymous Person.